[WSBAPT] missing trust

[Philip N. Jones]

Down here is Oregon, the Uniform Code says:


ORS 130.190 (OUTC §29).  If a noncharitable trust lacks beneficiaries (because all of the beneficiaries have died, for example), the assets return to the settlor.  If the settlor has died, the assets return to his successors, typically his estate.  In that case, the assets pass under the settlor's will, or if he had none, by the intestacy laws applicable to his estate.
I would think that the same result would apply to a bequest to a nonexistent trust, or property titled in the name of a nonexistent trust or trustee.  Does Washington have a similar statue?  Or can you find caselaw along these lines?
Phil Jones

Philip N. Jones |Duffy Kekel LLP
900 S.W. Fifth Ave., Suite 2500, Portland OR 97204
(503) 226-1371 (main) ) | (503) 226-3574 (fax)
(503) 853-1482 (cell)
pjones at duffykekel.com<mailto:pjones at duffykekel.com>

From: wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com <wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com> On Behalf Of Shannon Jones
Sent: Tuesday, March 5, 2024 7:57 AM
To: WSBA Probate & Trust Listserv <wsbapt at lists.wsbarppt.com>
Subject: [WSBAPT] missing trust

Listmates, The decedent's last Will was admitted to probate and leaves all of the estate to the only surviving adult child. There is a predeceased child with a couple surviving children of her own. The primary estate asset is real property with a few mobile homes on it, everything modest value. Title has confirmed the property was deeded to a "living trust" a few years before death. We cannot find the trust after diligent search.  Interestingly, we had no problem finding the original Will along with DPOAs, healthcare directives, etc. for the decedent and her spouse who died a few years before. The Will didn't mention anything about a trust. The attorney who drafted the deed voluntarily resigned from the WA bar after discipline and moved out of state and is no longer practicing law anywhere I can find. Do I file a quiet title to remove the trust as a "cloud" alleging there is no trust in existence that we know of? A TEDRA? Note a hearing in the probate court? Without finding any trust document we know nothing about it except the deed says the decedent was the trustee. Based on what I've found about the attorney who drafted the deed, I'm not sure the decedent even executed a trust document - Shannon

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Shannon R. Jones | Attorney
Campbell Barnett PLLC
Direct:  253.848.3515
Office: 253.848.3513| Fax: 253.845.4941
317 South Meridian
Puyallup, WA 98371
shannonj at campbellbarnettlaw.com<mailto:shannonj at campbellbarnettlaw.com>
campbellbarnettlaw.com<https://campbellbarnettlaw.com/>

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